We didn´t have enough time to do a jungle trek in Bolivia, which was a pain because most people say it is the cheapest place to do it. And we didn´t do it in Cusco either…. so we decided that when we got to Lima we would search out and take a trip into the Amazon jungle.
It cost us a bit more then what we were hoping for, but seeing as it´ll be a while before we are back in this part of the world, we thought that it would be well worth it… and it was. The whole thing cost us about 580 US Dollars each.
Ciaran: Day 1
The morning of our flight we had to be up to get our taxi at 2 o clock! The flight to Iquitos was grand and only took about 1 hour and 40 mins.
Flying into Iquitos is like flying over the ocean, its hard to make out anything until you get a bit lower and can make out that its all trees below you. Of course you see a few rivers complete with ox bow lakes (I did listen in geography class afterall!). We landed in Iquitoas and were met by our guide Luis and the others who were on our trip – Flora and Heinrich, on honeymoon from Spain.
We headed for the Explorama office (which is the company we did the trip with). We were loaded into a fast boat that was going to take us 50 miles up the Amazon river. We started out on a tributary of the Amazon river and the water was black in colour, whereas the Amazon itself is brown in colour. So 5 minutes later we arrive at the site where the two rivers meets and its like a clear line has been drawn in the water – black on one side and brown on the other.
Near this place there was a large cargo ship getting loaded with exotic woods. It had come from Europe and had delivered drilling equipment. During the wet season the Amazon can be up to 40 km wide! So its no wonder that large ocean going tankers can make it this far upriver.
We reached our Lodge about an two hours later, and were surprised by the size of it. It has 2 bars, a dining room, 2 hammock gardens, showers and toilets and can sleep about 180 people! Its all built on stilts because during the wet season the water will rise by about 2 or 3 metres. The rooms are not fully closed in, and the beds are covered with mosquito nets.
We sat in the hammocks for about an hour or 2 before lunch – its something we would be doing a lot on our free time over the next few days. I am definitely going to buy one in the future. Lunch was excellent, lots of fresh water fish and vegetables.
Jungle Walk
After that we headed off on our first activity with Luis: a jungle walk. We first stopped at a few trees near the back of the lodge. The first tree he showed us had sap that they call “Dragonblood” and it looks just like blood! But when you rub it in your had it turns into a cream that can be used for sealing up cuts. Its cool stuff! He also said that if you put a few drops in water and drink it, its good for women who have just given birth.
Next he showed us a plant similar to lemongrass and its used by the river-people to combat insomnia. Then a wild garlic (that isn´t used in cooking) and its said to be good for asthma. Next up was a plant that will help to stop people being lazy. He also described how to make it and give it to your wife without her knowing! Those were his words – not mine!
He showed us a load of other trees and plants and described how they are used by the river people to cure a lot of illnesses or are used in daily life. Further into the jungle we found a few different frogs including the famous poison dart frog – its black and red in colour. We also found a few different types of ants, and yes there was a poisonous one there too! We got to see 2 different types of monkeys and a whole load of birds.
Nighttime Canoe
We got back to the lodge and had a big dinner before meeting Luis and two others for a nighttime canoe ride!!
This was really cool, we went up a stream with two guides shining the torches in the surrounding trees. We saw a pygmy kingfisher, an owl butterfly, a fishing spider (yes, fishing!) and luckily, a sloth way up in the trees.
Celine: Day 2
The second day we were due to get up at 6am to go and see some birds as this is the best time to see them. To my delight and a few others, it started lashing rain at 5.30. We were told not to even bother getting out of bed if it rained. Suits us!
Rum factory
It seems Peruvian´s know how to spend a rainy day just as the Irish would, head straight to the pub before it stops. Armed with our poncho’s we hopped onto our river boat and were taken to the local rum factory about 5 minutes down the river. It´s quite an old joint with a large contraption taking up most of the hut. Powered by a horse pushing the wheel it´s used to squash the juice out of the sugar cane which is then fermented for 4 days. It´s all a bit too open air for my liking but I guess the alcohol takes care of any bacteria. Luis then had to drag us into the local establishment that sells the rum. We met the owner of the factory and bar, who I think was called Hernando. He let us sample a few types: Ginger, a syrup based one and one called Seven Routes – which supposedly is the Viagra of the Amazon and the consumers of which I will not disclose without payment.
Dolphin´s
The rain started to ease a little so Luis zoomed us over to the other side of the river and up into a tributary of the Amazon. We seen a few pink dolphins who aren´t the friendly socialites we´d thought they´d be. Nonetheless they were a crazy shade of pink all over and we managed to get a few snaps.
Piranha´s
Despite the rain Luis was determined to take us piranha fishing. His fishing spot didn´t have any piranha´s that day though. They live in the black water part of the rivers by the way, not the brown, just in case you go swimming there one day. We stopped by a family on the river who´s mother was gutting fish in a boat. Alot of catfish were enjoying the fish innards she was throwing back into the water so we took full advantage and threw our lines in. Lisa got the first catch, a big catfish, and we all followed catching something or other. I had to throw mine back in because it was just a baby, still counts though.
Tarantula’s
We went back to our lodges and to myself and Ciaran´s utter delight a MASSIVE spider was waiting for us on our bedroom wall. I got one of the guys working in the lodge to help us move it far far away from our room. He sneered the both of us for being so terrified of something which in his demented brain wasn´t big at all.
Will try and dot some photos into this soon. Lots of photos here though.
Lisa: Day 3
We got up around 6am to get the boat to bring us an hour and a half up the amazon river to the Explor Napo lodge with the canopy walk. We had breakfast there and also met their pet Charlie a capybara the worlds largest rodent. After breakfast we set off for the forty minute walk to the canopy,one of the longest treetop walkways in the world.
Charlie the Capybara
Canopy Walk
The walkway was built about 15 years ago. When we arrived our guide explained that only two people at a time could walk on it. So off Ciaran and Celine went and I went on it with Luis. There was 18 tree stops along the way to view the rain forest with a bird´s eye view. I wont lie, I was a little scared and i held on the ropes so hard it was a bit difficult to walk. I guess it didn’t help that the guide , Luis was walking so fast that he was making it go from side to side.
Ciaran was just as bad, he wouldn’t let anyone walk on it while he was on it! We reached a height of 110 feet and the walkways became longer the higher up we got. It didn’t help that our guide told us that animals use the canopy at night and make holes but that two guys come down every morning to repair any damage that had been done, but i wasn’t convinced as i was searching for holes and working myself in to a a bit of a tizzy! But once i relaxed a bit i began to really enjoy it and took in all the amazing views. We didn’t see any animals but a few lizards, but the experience of walking that high up was enough for me.
We had lunch and a nice siesta before we left again for the ExplormaLodge. We got to take it easy that evening and after dinner Luis us brought us on a walk into the jungle to try and find tarantulas and listen to the sounds of the jungle at night and boy was i excited to see spiders 
Nighttime jungle Walk
We walked in a row and me being smart walked behind Luis thinking that i would be safer. So we walked for a short while until we came across a tarantulas retreat, a small hole in the ground and Luis put a stick in to get it out. It was a small one , a light brown so it blended in with the leaves around it on the ground. We moved on then and Luis asked everyone to turn off their torches so we could all get a sense of the jungle at night and listen to the sounds (I was only too happy to be in the pitch dark in the middle of the jungle!!!!)
So while we were all silent all i kept thinking about was the snakes and spiders that could possibly be moving around me and the next thing i felt something on my leg, as calm as i could be I asked if anyone was touching my leg, Luis turned on his torch and burst out laughing he had a stick in his hand and thought it was the funniest thing, while i stood there with a pale face and a bead or two of sweat falling down from my forehead!
We kept on walking and my senses were heightened at this point so my darling brother thought it would be hilarious to throw a stick in my direction, which made a loud rustling sound. I jumped 10 feet into the air and even Luis jumped a bit, we both thought a snake fell into the bush or an animal was moving around. The rest of the group had a wonderful laugh at my expense!! Once everyone calmed down again we moved on and found a huge tarantula , the tarantulas were easy to photo as they just stayed so still and it seemed like they were frozen to there spot.
When we got back to the lodge and I was on high alert so i started looking around my room and once i was happy that no intruders were in the room i went into the bed only to see a huge tree frog next to me on the wall. So I got Ciaran to get rid of him and after all the excitement I didn’t have the best sleep.
Lisa: Day 4
Victoria Amazonia
We had to pack up and ship out to Ceiba tops that morning, but i wasn’t complaining, pool, enclosed room with air conditioning But before we reached the Ceiba Tops we went to the see the Victoria Amazonian Water Lily. We went down the river and were brought then to the lake where they were. They were huge! The flower that grows only lasts for two days. Luis told us all to be extra careful as we were in black water so it was invested with electric eels, piranhas, anacondas and more lovelies
When we got of the boat the locals had set up a stall and were selling some hand made crafts. There was also a Sloth with them, their house pet! So we got to take some great snaps and the next thing one guy just threw down an anaconda near us! He was hissing away and was pretty pissed off! They catch them and hold on to them for a few days for the tourists and then put them back in the water. None of us wanted to hold him for obvious reasons.
Monkey Island
We moved on to Monkey Island, we didn’t find Guybrush Threepwood on it though. Its a project set up by a local man Gilberto who saw that the number of Monkeys were decreasing and he wanted to help them. He has 9 species of Monkeys from Spider Monkey to Pygmy Marmoset. We were greeted by one monkey in particular who jumped on Ciaran and started pulling his ears. We found out that this monkey was the bold one and is famous around the amazon.
We got to feed the monkeys and the howling monkey was dying for attention, Celine held onto him for a while and then he jumped into my arms and that’s were he stayed for the rest of the day. I was upset when i had to leave! The guy who set up the project chatted with us for an hour and explained that the monkeys were being hunted, one reasons for one of the species being killed is for their tail. They have a long furry tail which people cut of to use for dusting!!!!!!
Flora was holding one of them in her arms and none of us could imagine why they were killed for such foolish reasons, haven’t people heard of cloths! We really enjoyed spending time with the monkeys who only loved visitors as most of them are orphans as there parents were either killed or taken away. So all they were looking for was love and attention and we were all happy to give it to them.
Yagua tribe
We got to Ceiba tops in time for lunch and we got to take a nice dip in the pool before our new guide brought us to see a local Indian tribe called Yagua. They dress in long skirts made from palm trees. The Yagua Chief displayed a blowgun technique, they use sharp sticks and prick the top into a poisonous frog so that when it hits there prey it will kill them. We got to have a go, they were impressed by Ciaran and Celine who hit the wood but i was a joke mine only went half way!
We ended our time in the jungle with a few drinks and a great local band played. I was a bit nervous about the amazon before i went, hearing some horror stories and so on. But i was so glad i did it, its one of the best things I have ever done in my life and I hope to visit the monkeys again some day.
